Murderer gets parole after 34 years in jail

LES KENNEDY

REGINALD John Little, who started a fire that killed 15 people in a Kings Cross hotel on Christmas Day, 1975 is set to be released next month after almost 35 years in jail.

Little, 58, was given his parole orders on Friday when he appeared via video link from Silverwater jail before a NSW State Parole Authority hearing. The authority ordered Little be under parole supervision until the day he dies.

Little was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 28 years - which expired in February 2004 - for the murders of 15 people who died in a fire at the Savoy Hotel, Kings Cross on December 25, 1975.

Another 16 people were injured in the blaze.

Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham opposed the decision to release Little on the grounds that he had refused to admit to the crime.

The authority ordered Little be released from Silverwater jail on May 7, and no later than May 14.

In 1993 it was revealed Little had been released regularly on day leave from the St Heliers Correctional Centre prison farm near Muswellbrook to work as a volunteer with a local bushfire brigade unit.

Mr Woodham ordered he be returned to full-time prison custody on learning that Little had been promoted to captain of the brigade.